'Glee' Season 6 Isn't Returning This Fall: 5 Theories Why the Show Received A Midseason Premiere

Get ready to say a long goodbye, Gleeks. On Monday morning FOX announced that Glee Season 6 won't premiere this fall — instead, the Lea Michele-starring musical dramedy will return midseason in 2015. I guess not even those crazy Naya Rivera rumors could drum up interest in the show that premiered back in 2009. So folks, there will be no Glee Season 6 in 2014 — so what's the real reason that Ryan Murphy's former-hit got pushed back to 2015?

The advantage of airing it later in the season is that it doesn’t have to feel the pressure of delivering.

Well, that sounds promising? Not. Now that we kind of know why Glee got the boot from the Fall 2014 lineup (to avoid pressure) — here are 5 other reasons that, though harsh, that are possibly true:

Season 6 Has Been Abbreviated

Okay, Reilly explicitly said that Glee had a 22-episode order, but only after he told journalists on Monday morning that “there is no standard order for a show anymore." Quite the change of tune, right? Reilly's first statement lead me to suspect the obvious that, with a midseason premiere, Glee's Season 6 would be shaved down to under 20 episodes. Final seasons of shows do that all the time. And his abrupt assertion that the series WILL get its "standard" 22 episodes just sounds fishy. I mean, FOX did cut two episodes from Season 5 of the series, after all.

That Naya-Lea Feud Is For Real

I know, I know — it's been confirmed already that Glee's two biggest divas aren't actually feuding and that Naya Rivera has not been fired from the show. (Thank god.) But what if there actually is a lingering issue – it might not be as big as "sources" made it out to be, but it could be putting Glee on a longer hiatus than planned.

Ryan Murphy Is Developing Funny Girl ASAP

I mean, we did find out on Sunday that Ryan Murphy confirmed that Funny Girl is happening. Maybe, Murphy's taking a break from Glee development to get his new Broadway venture squared away so Glee's series finale can run seamlessly into the production's opening night. I mean, it would absolutely make sense.

Season 5 Ratings Really Dipped That Low

By the numbers, Glee is struggling. Season 5 has more or less had a one-way ticket on the proverbial "Struggle Bus." Last Thursday's episode marked a series low for Glee of 0.8, down 11 percent from the previous week. When FOX cut two episodes from the series, it was attributed to a massive ratings dip. And, well, judging by Reilly's comment about keeping expectations low, it sounds like FOX doesn't want to deal with seeing bad ratings either. This seems like the most viable reason for why Glee, a fall TV staple, has been pushed to midseason.

Someone's Diva-ing Out

With all of those feud rumors, this also makes sense. Someone (cough Lea or Naya) is having a contract dispute and holding up production from beginning on Season 6. I mean, the show did coin the term "diva-off". (Thanks, Will Schuester.) But of course, FOX has stayed quiet about the alleged feud.